Bethpage State Park Ecology

When temperatures are warm and milkweed plants grow, Bethpage State Park (BSP) becomes a bountiful haven for the majestic Monarch Butterfly.  Between perennial gardens and wildflower patches, flower boxes and golf course roughs, our park offers dozens of forage which becomes an extravagant buffet for butterflies! Yet, Monarchs also use BSP for shelter; a safe space to oviposit eggs and complete metamorphosis.  This allows me to monitor different levels of monarch activity all throughout BSP. While this process takes time and patience, it is a real treat late summer-early fall when butterfly numbers surge. This year two specific spots stand out in mind! One hotspot is Bethpage State Park's Picnic Pollinator Garden.  This extensive habitat is a beautiful space we created just for pollinators.  With dedication and laborious effort, we have been able to include all the native plants you can think of : Lupines, Coneflowers, Blazing Stars (pictured above), Mounta...

Both quick and foraging on the same flower - can you identify a  Ruby-throated Hummingbird (left) and a Snowberry Clearwing (right)? Hummingbirds are a Common Favorite! Tiny and fast, finding these iridescent creatures in your garden is always a treat! If granted with the opportunity to watch the wonder of these birds at work, you'll most likely find them feeding on a variety of flowers. If so, I recommend trying not to blink--in a flash, they might be gone!  This of course makes hummingbirds not just efficient fliers, but outrageous pollinators!  Beating their wings up to 50 TIMES PER SECOND enables these magnificent birds to make a thousand or more floral visits a day! This also means that hummingbirds can drink up to double their weight in nectar! Incredible, right? Just imagine how much pollen they transfer throughout their daily feeding process (and even in their lifetime)!  Here at Bethpage State Park, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have visited all our favorite ...

This summer,  Bethpage State Park started a joint conservation program with Caumsett State Park to establish a Baltimore Checkerspot colony at our park.  Baltimore Checkerspots are a small, native butterfly with striking coloration. Once believed to inhabit meadows all-across the Eastern Seaboard, today their numbers are unfortunately not well-documented or widely researched. At one time there were many colonies in Marlyand, where the Baltimore Checkerspot became the state insect and even got its name for an appearance resembling Lord Baltimore's coat-of-arms! However, in 2009, Sue and Ken Feustel discovered a Baltimore Checkerspot colony at Caumsett State Park. This was the the first of its kind, as prior to, only a few individual butterflies had ever been reported on Long Island!  Some speculated that the Checkerspots ventured across Long Island Sound, and into Caumsett, from colonies in Connecticut and Westchester.  Since this exciting discovery, Sue has ...

Happy National Pollinator Week (June 22-28)! This is a special time where our park goes above and beyond to celebrate pollinators; the admirable organisms (bees, butterflies, bats etc.) that while foraging, transfer pollen from one flower to the next! This behavior allows plants to generate seeds, fruits and new flowers for the future. To commemorate this holiday, our staff typically hosts community educational programs and conservation projects. This year was no different except that we took the pollinator party to Zoom! First we kicked it off with Girl Scout Troop 3632! Troop mom Melissa and I (Bethpage State Park's ecologist) had been discussing the best way for her scouts to complete an environmental project that would give back to our park. After some consideration we agreed that scout-provided bee homes would be the perfect addition to our Picnic Pollinator Garden. As a thank you, I virtually taught a lesson about the two types of bees that would use their new gift: sp...

Have you ever found yourself in the right place, at the right time, for an eye-catching wildlife experience? Perhaps you had a moment on our golf course to witness a fierce Red-tailed Hawk scoop up its prey or a Monarch butterfly fluttering on wild milkweed growing in a rough! Maybe you are on the other side of our park, strolling along one of our nature trails, when you discover an elusive Pink Lady's Slipper orchid growing deep in the woods! With so many acres of space and hours of recreation, fascinating sights of nature are everywhere at Bethpage State Park. Sometimes you spot a species you are familiar with, while other times it's an animal or plant you have never seen. Whatever your observation may be, I am here to tell you that there is a great place to share it.... on  iNaturalist ! Both a website and a mobile app,  iNaturalist  is a fun and easy way to put your nature findings to good use. All you have to do is create an account, submit a picture a...

The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day is a momentous milestone! To make this annual celebration even more unique, Earth Day is going digital! While   we are instructed to stay home, there is truly no reason to feel bad about it. The silver-lining is that April 22, 2020 will probably be the most eco-friendly Earth Day this planet has ever seen! For the first time since the holiday's creation, there will be no mass gatherings, parades or events which means far less pollution and litter! Instead, this year, we will have to stay put and work with what we have...which, when you think about it, is much more than what we need to celebrate! We have the Internet and the beauty of the nature that exists right in our very own backyards. There are so many activities to participate in to honor this day, we just have to get creative! I'm also here to tell you that you do not need to search far and wide for ideas either-- as an ecologist for Bethpage State Park (with a passion for art), I e...

  Warblers are a favorite spring migrant. Over three dozen warbler species can be observed in New York. The warbler shown above is a Black-and-White Warbler ( Mniotilta varia) .                 Greetings everyone. I'm hoping that this post finds our park patrons and blog visitors safe and well. While social distancing has been at the forefront of all our minds lately, I want to redirect our focus towards something that could give us a greater sense of closeness. What if I told you there is actually a select group of neighbors you can   get to know today? Not neighbors of the human-kind but the avian-kind! Yes, I'm talking about the birds that are new to the area...the feathered visitors that traveled to be here for the arrival of spring!           Just as they do every year, spring birds are coming to town. Since we live in the Northern Hemisphere, many of these visitors have traveled hundreds of miles f...